Oiler for air tools



Aio

Patented Jan. 21, 1.941

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE OILER FOR AIR TOOLS Products Company Application May 20, 1939, Serial No. 274,747

3 Claims.

My invention has to do with improvements in Oilers and, more particularly, relates to Oilers for interposition in air lines for automatically lub-ricating air operated devices.

This application is a continuation in part of my copending application Serial Number 73,283, filed April 8, 1936, issued as Patent No. 2,187,241, entitled Oiler for air tools.

My experience in the art has been that prior olers are impracticable and often totally .inop-` erative to deliver oil to the air line when the velocities or pressures are materially reduced. 'Ihat has been due largely to the lack of a design and structure capable of providing any dependable pressure diiferential between the oiler reservoir and the outlet orice. I have found also that, at relatively high velocities, the prior art devices are unsatisfactory, ineflicient and not at all dependable. For instance, in the operation of ordinary air tools such as sanding and buing devices driven by air motors, the usual desirable rate of oil feed is about one-eightieth of a pint per hour and one of the principal shortcomings of prior art Oilers has been that if they are so designed and constructed as to provide such a measured ow at extremely high velocities, they are incapable of delivering any oil at relatively low velocities or, conversely, if capable of delivering oil at extremely low velocities, they deliver too much oil at high velocities. Also, I have found prior art devices require pulsations in the air line for their operation and are of such design and structure that the oil passageways become clogged with foreign matter in the oil.

It is therefore among the aims and attainments of my invention to cure those shortcomings byk providing an oiler which is capable of eicient and dependable operation under all working conditions and at varying pressures and velocities; which does not require pulsations in the air line for its operation; which is extremely simple in structure, durable and economical of manufacture and in which theamount of oil delivered into the air line may be predetermined and controlled.

Another object is the provision of simple, novel and 'ecient means for controlling the oil delivery independently of the velocity and pressure in the air line.

Still another object is the provision of a device capable of maintaining an elcient pressure differentialbetween the oil reservoir and the outlet orice under all working conditions.

How my invention accomplishes those as well as other objects will become obvious from the following description of one presently preferred adaptation, for which purpose I shall refer to 'the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan view partly in section;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section on line 2 2 of Fig.

1; and 5 Fig. 3 is a fragmentary vertical section showing a variational form.

Referring now to the drawing, I show at 5 a container providing an oil reservoir 6. The bottom wall 'I of the container has an integrally formed tubular member 8 projecting upwardly from its inner central portion, which tubular member is provided with interior threads 9. Bottom wall 1 is also provided with an upwardly 15 extending annular flange I0 forming a cup into which the bottom end of side wall II fits, there being interpositioned between the bottom end of Wall II and the top face of wall 1 a suitable gasket I2. Side wall II is preferably made of some transparent material such, for instance, as glass,

' to afford visibility of the contents of the reservoir. A head I5 has a depending annular flange I'I which provides a socket into which the top end of side wall Il fits, there being interposed between .the upper end of wall II and the bottom surface of head I5 a suitable gasket I8. A stud I9, having a threaded lower end I9a, is formed integrally with and projects downwardly from the head, the threaded portion I9a threadedly 30 engaging the tubular member 8, so that in assembling the device it is only necessary to rotate the head and container members relative to each other until side wall II is drawn against the gaskets lo, la to form a. nula ugh-t seai. 35

Extending transversely through head I5 is an air passageway 20 which has between its inlet end ZI and its outlet end 22 a somewhat elongated portion 23 of reduced diameter. An opening extends through the bottom of passageway 20 and communicates with the reservoir 6.

An opening extends through the top wall of the head I5 into the passageway 20 and a concentric opening 36 extends through the bottom wall of the head from the passageway to communicate with the reservoir. In the passageway formed by openings 35 and 36, I mount a tube 40 whose upper portion 4I fits opening 36 in fluid tight engagement therewith. A plug 44 50 closes the top and of opening 35, and between the under face of its head and the top surface of head I 5, I provide a gasket 45.

The lower end of tube 4U is tapered and threaded at 41 and slitted at 48, and over its 55 tapered end I threadedly mount a tapered and interiorly threaded sleeve il for the purposes to be described.

Through that portion of the side wall of tube im which is opposite the direction of ilow of air through passageway 2t and which is central of the passageway 2li, I provide a small outlet orifice 5u and mounted longitudinally in tube il is a capillary member here shown as a Wick 55 whose bottom end projects from tube 49 and hangs therefrom submerged in the oil in the reservoir 6. The lower end of tube il!! is also submerged in the liquid in the reservoir. Wick 55 extends upwardly within tube fill to a point preferably spaced above the outlet orice 5D.

A iilling port Ell, closed by headed screw 6|, is provided through head l5 and communicates with the reservoir for purposes of lling the reservoir.

Head l5 is internally threaded at the ends 2| and 22 of passageway 2@ for connection to an air line.

In operation, the air under pressure passes from right to left through passageway 26, creating pressure on the iluid in the reservoir through opening 3d, and inasmuch as the air stream is divided by the tube Gli, which extends entire-ly across the passageway, the divisions of the air stream converge at a point around the ori-hoes Eil, inducing a vacuum at the outlet orifice which acts to draw oil from the closely adjacent wick portion within the tube-wick 55 extending from the loil reservoir to a point preferably spaced above the orice. The reduced portion 2'3 of the passageway 2li, which is traversed by tube 5i, increases the velocity of air moving around the `tube to material-ly reduce the pressure at outlet orifice 5i? even at extremely low pressures. The pres-sure dilerential between the reservoir and the outlet oriiice is further increased by the fact that .the opening 3b is between the inlet end 2l and the restricted portion 23 and by virtue of the fact that the cross sectional area of opening Sil is relatively greater than tlhat of the outlet orifice. The oil withdrawn through orice Eil enters the center of the `air stream and thus becomes intimately admixed with the air and is Inot thrown against the inner walls of the passageway.

The oil ilcw through wick 55 may be varied by the relative degree of constriction applied to the submerged en'd of .the wick by Imeans of screwing or unscrewing sleeve i9 with relation to the lower, threaded end of tube dil.

In Fig. 3, I show a variational form of flow regulating dei/ice for my `oiler. In that View, head l5, passageway 20 and restricted passageway portion Z3 are the Isame as belore described. However, in this variational form the tube lila is provided with a longitudi-nal slot lill at its upper end and bolt 5l is hollow at its lower end to provide a sleeve portion 62 which is slidalble longitudinally over the slotted end off tube lilla (by means of screwing bolt 6l in or out Iof threaded opening E5 through the .top of the head) to vary tlhe length of that ponti-on of slot El! which is in communication with passageway 2U.

In the fore-going description, I have resorted to considerable details of structure and association of parts for the purpose of making my invention clearly understandable. I wish it understood, however, that i't may be modified Within its broader scope as deiined vby the appended claims.

I claim:

l. An oiling device for interposition in an air line, comprising: a casing provided with an air passageway therethrough andan oil reservoir therein, said passageway having a portion o'f reduced diameter between its ends, a tubular meinber ext-ending .transversely through said air passageway at a point between and spaced from the ends of the said reduced diameter portion, an unobstructed inlet opening in the casing establishing communication between the air passageway and reservoir, lsaid inlet opening being positioned at a point lbetween said reduced diameter portion and .the inlet end :of the air passageway, an outlet oriiice in the tube, said orice having a cross-sectional area smaller than that of said inlet opening and communicating with the passageway only .at a point facing the outlet end thereof, and a wick in and Vextending longitudinally oli the tube .from the reservoir to a point opposite the outlet orifice.

2. An oiling device for interposition in an air line, comprising: a casing provided with an air passageway therethrough and an oil reservoir therein, said passageway having Yan elongated portion oi reduced diameter between its ends, a tubular member extending transversely through said air passageway at a point between and spaced from the ends of `the said reduced diameter portion, an inl-et opening in the casing establishing communication between the air passageway and reservoir, said inlet opening being positioned at a point between said reduced diameter portion and the inlet end of the air passageway, an outlet orifice in the tube, said oriiice having a crosssectional area smaller than that of said inlet opening and communicating with the passageway only at a point substantially centrally thereof and facing the outlet end thereof, and a wiel: member in and extending lengthwise of said tube from the reservoir to a point opposite the outlet ori-ce.

3. An oiler for use in an air line, comprising: a body having an oil reservoir and an air passageway, a tube extending transversely of the passageway and into the reservoir, said tube having an opening communicating with the passageway, a wick mounted longitudinally in the tube, the end portion of the tube within the reservoir being tapered, exteriorly threaded and slitted, and a tapered collar threadedly mounted over said end of the tube.

OITMAR A. KEI-ILE. 

